Soon after a game animal is killed, field dressing is required to inhibit bacteria growth and prevent premature spoilage of meat. Field dressing refers to the process of preparing the carcass of a game animal at the location the animal was killed to minimize spoilage and preserve the meat for later consumption. Once all life functions have ceased, the body begins to decay. The unchecked bacterial growth of the internal organs (viscera) and body fluids spreads quickly through the carcass and will cause meat to be unfit for human consumption in a matter of hours. To prevent this, the process of gutting is performed. Gutting involves removing all viscera inside the abdomen and thorax. Removing viscera prevents bacterial growth of viscera from spreading to the meat, aids in cooling the meat and prevents unpleasant visceral body fluids from spreading to the meat. Heat and moisture further increase the spread of bacteria. Therefore, after gutting, the carcass must be cooled from the warm natural body temperature to a refrigerated temperature as soon as possible. Skinning involves removing the animal skin which further aids in cooling and drying by exposing meat to the atmosphere. After gutting and skinning, the carcass may be quartered. Quartering involves severing points of the skeletal system to divide the carcass into small sections. Quartering further aids in cooling by exposing a greater surface area of the meat to the atmosphere. In addition, quartering aids in transporting the carcass from the field.
The process of gutting, skinning and quartering requires a variety of cutting techniques as well as cutting operations at numerous angles and directions. Cutting operations vary from delicate, intricate cutting strokes while gutting and skinning, to forceful cutting required to quarter game. To efficiently gut, skin and quarter a game animal one or more cutting tools have in the past been required to perform both such intricate as well as forceful cuts. The present invention provides a knife structure to perform all these cutting operations with greater speed, dexterity, safety and less chance of meat spoilage than all previous knife designs.
In general, the present invention provides a knife which comprises a relatively short-length blade having a relatively large radius cutting edge portion which terminates at an intersection with a rearwardly inclined straight or slightly curved blunt flat edge surface. A skin-membrane cutting means is provided at the rearward end of the blunt flat edge surface by a rearward facing slot terminating in a curved cutting edge. The knife further comprises a handle having a longitudinal axis which is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the blade so that when the knife blade is held in a horizontal attitude with the forearm of the user in a horizontal attitude, the user's wrist is not bent relative to the forearm. The handle achieves this blade orientation by providing a generally oval-shaped shank portion with an axis coaxial to the longitudinal portion of the blade and transverse to the main handle section. This shank portion is where the exposed steel blade extends into and is enclosed by the handle material. The shank extends between the fingers when the main handle section is gripped and enclosed in the hand (FIGS. 26, 27, 28). The blade structure is specifically designed and located relative to the handle to provide maximum ease of cutting with maximum safety.
Presently available skinning and dressing knives have an elongated relatively narrow width blade with an elongated handle having a longitudinal axis which is coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the blade. Thus, when the knife is held in a horizontal attitude with the forearm of a person in a horizontal attitude, the wrist must be downwardly bent (FIG. 52) or upwardly bent (FIG. 35) to apply the sharp long edge of the blade to the carcass and cutting motion is limited and muscles are strained.
One feature of the present invention which improves its function over a conventional field knife is the provision for a greater angle of rotation of the knife. The knife is gripped in a manner providing greater dexterity to maneuver the blade and change cutting direction by rotating the knife.
A conventional skinning knife's range of effective cutting directions is approximately 180.degree. of rotation around the axis of the wrist. This range is limited by rotation of the wrist and forearm. Rotation is limited since the wrist is bent for most cutting applications. Cutting while the wrist is bent allows rotational movement of the knife from the elbow to the hand which grips the knife. Cutting with a bent wrist limits ease of movement and dexterity with the knife since the muscles of the forearm are continuously extended and contracted in order to manipulate the knife and change cutting directions. For example, when skinning a deer carcass hung vertically from a tree, the only effective and comfortable cutting directions are those along 180.degree. degrees of arc below the horizontal. This includes all cutting directions between horizontal cutting to the right, downward cutting, and horizontal cutting to the left. When cutting in directions 180.degree. above the horizontal, the conventional knife is awkward, ineffective and can be unsafe. This is because the wrist and elbow are rotated to uncomfortable cutting positions and undue strain is applied to the forearm muscles.
The knife of the present invention can cut effectively and safely through all cutting directions around a 360.degree. arc. This knife allows the user to change cutting direction by rotating the entire arm, from the hand gripping the knife to the shoulder. This gives the user a greater angle of rotation than when using a conventional skinning knife. Movement, dexterity, control of the cutting edge and safety are improved while the chance of cutting viscera is reduced because the wrist is always straight while cutting with the knife. Cutting with a straight wrist allows the muscles of the forearm to remain relaxed during all cutting applications. This eliminates muscle strain and fatigue which occurs during the course of gutting, skinning and quartering with a conventional knife. Eliminating muscle fatigue further increases blade control, reducing the chance of the user slipping and cutting oneself or cutting viscera, releasing unpleasant body fluids which taint the meat. Therefore, game can be dressed out faster with the knife of the present invention, with greater safety, and the possibility of meat spoilage reduced.
Another feature of the present invention provides a cutting hook oriented in a particular manner relative to the blade and handle. This cutting hook configuration greatly improves the ability of the present invention over presently available field knives to pierce and then cut a linear longitudinal slit through skin and membrane tissue of a game animal while eliminating the possibility of cutting viscera or the user cutting oneself when performing these cuts.
Upward cutting is another function which cannot be safely and effectively performed using a conventional knife. Upward cutting refers to inverting a conventional knife so the sharpened edge is perpendicular and adjacent to the V between the thumb and first finger as shown in FIG. 52. This grip is used to cut vertically upward by rotating the forearm upward using the elbow and shoulder as pivots. This is dangerous since the sharp edge of the blade arcs up towards the user's upper body and head.
The knife of the present invention can safely cut upward by inverting the knife so the sharp edge is in line with the thumb as shown in FIG. 53. Using the inverted grip, the knife can be held three ways: the handle-blade connection can rest between the index and middle finger; between the middle and third finger; and/or between the third finger and little finger. When cutting upward, the sharp edge always points away from the user to eliminate the possibility of the user being injured.
When cutting upward with the knife of the present invention, the wrist is always straight. This provides the user with a safer, more stable and powerful grip. Cutting with the wrist straight reduces the chance of slipping and injuring the user. When cutting upward with a conventional knife, the wrist is usually bent downward (FIG. 52), to reduce the chance of the users cutting themselves. This results in a less stable grip than that of the present knife.
Another advantage of the present knife is the ability to effectively and safely cut an object over one's head. With a conventional knife, the grip is unstable and ineffective when cutting overhead with the forearm extended vertically. Again this results from the bent wrist, and rotation of the wrist and forearm is limited. The present knife can effectively cut overhead since the wrist is straight and because the knife can easily be manipulated by rotating the wrist, forearm and shoulder.
Other objects and advantages are illustrated in the drawings and described hereinafter. For example, various features of the present invention may be employed with knives designed and constructed for other uses such as cutting of domestic animal meat in meat processing plants.